I have said this before, whenever speaking about AI in the context of healthcare, and here we are, with Roche, once again proving that AI has a huge potential to transform diagnostics. Now, I also strongly believe that AI (and in the current context we are talking about Narrow, Weak AI) has the potential to transform therapy and the fused emerging field, theragnostics. However, diagnostics is a low-hanging fruit, and will be first conquered by AI.
The current Roche study
Roche scientists deserve kudos for fighting genericide, having picked Diabetes Macular Edema (DME), a specific condition affecting specific cohorts within those living with Diabetes. The biggest effect of diabetes is in the secondary effects that cause more harm to patients many a time. Without appropriate diagnosis, Macular Degeneration can lead to permanent damage and consequent degeneration of sight.
The choice of a specific eye condition is not a weakness, but a very good way to conduct research, and make a comparison between AI, which uses the two-dmensional Color Fundus Photos (CFP) versus the three-dimensional Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT), which is the gold standard, and requires human expertise for successful diagnosis. Plus, as Susan Shepard lays out in her review (link below), the former technique is available through telemedicine centers, while the latter is not, as it is more expensive as well. This also has implications for underserved populations in the developing world, as diabetes is a global health condition.
AI and Imaging based Diagnostics
Another aspect that makes this particular study powerful, and also demonstrates the power of narrow AI, specifically Deep Learning is the choice of diagnostics that relies on imaging. Over the past few decades, quite a bit of research and development has focused on making Deep Learning powerful, especially when it comes to imaging viz-a-viz applications in facial recognition and more broadly, image recognition. This has resulted in knowledge in the form of algorithms and techniques that can now be successfully extended to AI.
Explainability
The authors of the study also allude to the fact that they have been able to get the algorithm to spit out its secrets as to how it is arriving at the diagnoses. This is a fundamental requirement of AI. The more an algorithm is understood in terms of how it recognizes patterns and arrives at conclusions, the more value it has in aiding diagnoses.
Explainability is critical, not just for healthcare applications, but in many fields where AI will be put to use. It has also been an ongoing challenge, and will be a significant hurdle when it comes to application. It is of such high importance that DARPA is continuing to make investments to have explainability or XAI be a functional component of AI going forward.
Where we go from here
AI can make diagnosis, like many other activities and tasks faster, cheaper and more accurate, supplementing and complementing humans. As I mentioned before, this can have an effect and applications of immense value with very high Returns on Investment (ROI) for governments, private organizations, patients and stakeholders sundry. There are also several social applications where it will greatly benefit humanity.
There will be progressive churn, and the competition to make AI a market reality, already very intense is only going to grow stronger over time.
Yet, I do not expect the transition to be smooth, and there will definitely bumps in the road ahead, in terms of technological, regulatory and other challenges.
References:
- The Qmed Article by Susan Shepard: https://www.mddionline.com/study-shows-using-ai-eye-screenings-could-improve-vision-outcomes?ADTRK=UBM&elq_mid=8095&elq_cid=74447
- Close-up Image of the Eye: https://www.pexels.com/photo/eye-iris-anatomy-biology-8588/
- Image of person checking blood sugar: https://pixabay.com/photos/diabetes-blood-finger-glucose-777002/
- Image of X-ray: https://unsplash.com/photos/ouyjDk-KdfY
- Image of Doctors Collaborating: https://stocksnap.io/photo/GSBJXWRSDV
- Image of Subway Stairs: https://burst.shopify.com/photos/up-subway-stairs?q=stairs